


After All This Time

by pompon



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Hogwarts!au, Implied Niall Horan/Liam Payne, Louis-centric, M/M, bit of banter in there as well, this is like pure fluff, zayn and liam aren't really in it sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 16:28:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5593108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pompon/pseuds/pompon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My take on the following prompt: </p><p>Hogwarts!AU where Harry and Louis are enemies who have potions class together, and one day they're brewing Amortentia but Louis doesn't know because he gets to class late so when he does arrive he starts laughing because “Oi Styles! you're brewing your own cologne that's so lame ahaahaa” and the whole class is like “what” and Harry is like “what”</p>
            </blockquote>





	After All This Time

**Author's Note:**

> I'm fairly certain that sixteen-year-old me would have a few bad things to say about current me deleting this cringey masterpiece, so...
> 
> Enjoy?

He’d never admit it – especially to Niall, that absolute _bastard_ \- but hearing Harry’s deep morning lilt every Friday is the only thing that manages to drag him out of bed at the abysmal hour of five am. That godsend of a man-child has been getting him to Quidditch practice for the last two years. Naturally, today isn’t any different. 

“For fucks sake Niall, remind me why we’re awake again. And hold me up, would you? I didn’t catch any breakfast and am hardly functioning.” Louis slumps on the blonde boy, pulling the pair to a halt.

“Jesus Lou, stop being so bloody dramatic. It’s not my fault you were up all night pining over Slytherin’s precious captain. Get it together, mate.” With a disgruntled look now etched on his face (and a punch to Niall’s arm), Louis keeps walking.

“Oh give it a rest… It’s a well-known fact that Styles and I are mortal enemies. I wouldn’t even touch his dick with a bloody Nimbus 2000. And they’re fucking old and unusable now, Ni.” Niall begins to protest, but he’s cut off immediately by an exaggerated sigh.

“And stop with the bloody Harry shit, would you? I practically _dragged_ myself out of bed this morning just so I could spend some quality time with not only the team, but with you, my dear. Not so I could add more ‘sweaty Harry’ material to my wank bank before grilling him on whether or not he’s involved with that knob from Ravenclaw. Of course, in true Tommo fashion, the grilling would be subtle. The blatant perving however? Maybe not.”

Wrapping an arm around Louis’ smaller frame, Niall just cackles.

“It wouldn’t be a normal Friday morning if you didn’t, mate. Actually, it wouldn’t be a normal day, period. Liam’s worried you’re turning into a bloody serial killer or summat after he caught you spending a whole flamin’ hour yesterday staring at Styles in Herbology.” A blush rises to Louis’ cheeks as he laughs.

“Oh come off it, you little Irish shit.”

 

 

**ϟ**

 

 

Ten minutes and many reassurances ( _yes, Louis, you’re arse even looks great in your robes_ ) later, the two are meandering onto the fog-laden pitch hand-in-hand. They’ve been inseparably clingy ever since meeting as awkward little first years five years ago – much to Liam Payne’s dismay, of course. In the five years they’ve also known him, he’s probably been crushing on Niall for around four years, 364 days and a few hours. Must be the Irish charm or something.

Upon entry, the two look over to the far side of the green and immediately spot seven figures. Just as Louis suspected, Harry has already got his six Slytherin players in a circle; briefing them for practice with brooms in hand. Glancing away and squinting to see through the mist, he manages to spot two other people wandering around; clad in their signature crimson and gold robes. If he’s lucky, it’ll only be another ten minutes and the rest of his team will be here. He’s always been a little lenient with them, but he never worries. He likes to think that he’s still a better captain than the beautiful boy standing 100 paces in front of him. He also likes to think that he only lies to himself on rare occasions.

Never one for being anything other than overbearingly obvious, Louis sweeps his caramel fringe across his forehead before yelling across the field, “Punctual as always, eh Styles? The extra training isn’t going to stop us from kicking your arse come game time!” All eyes lift to Louis and Niall as Harry turns around with a smirk, glimpsing at their intertwined hands before bringing his attention back to Louis’ face.

“Were those actual tears I saw when we beat you last month?” The Gryffindor captain continues, pulling Niall in the direction of the curly-haired boy.

“Such rude words coming from someone with such a pretty little mouth, Tomlinson.” He drawls in reply, just as the two boys come to a halt in front of him.

“I’m doing you a favour, Harry,” Louis shoots back, “My mouth’s only small to make dicks like yours seem bigger.”

The snickers that resonate throughout the small group of Slytherin are immediately overpowered by the guffaws that Harry and Niall emit. Spotting the rest of the Gryffindor team entering the pitch to their left, Louis just smiles at the boy and turns to walk away, Niall in tow. He’d be lying if he said that the quiet _always the charmer, Tomlinson_ he hears as he goes doesn’t make him feel a little giddy inside.

 

 

**ϟ**

 

 

It’s only later, when he is sitting with Niall and Liam at Lunch in the great hall, that Louis realises how shit his life is. He’s probably just being overly dramatic as usual, but he genuinely feels dead inside. Besides, after hearing what just came out of Liam’s mouth, he might as well be.

“So you’re telling me, that the dickhead from Ravenclaw rumoured to hooking up with Harry, is Zayn _fucking_ Malik?” Louis had choked out only moments earlier. “And that they’re not even _rumours_? They’re _true_?”

“Look mate,” Liam begins cautiously, wary of the way Louis is now staring slack-jawed into space, “It mightn’t even be true. But these guys were talking about them in Defence Against the Dark Arts this morning and I just thought I should let you know.”

Louis manages to look back at him across the table, before dropping his fork onto his plate with a loud _clank_.

“What the fuck Liam? _I just thought I should let you know_?” He sighs loudly, placing his head in his hands. “Might as well have said ‘I just thought I should let you know that _your life is now over’_. Or, ‘I just thought I should let you know that, with Zayn _fucking_ Malik still living and breathing on this earth, you’ll never have a chance with the gift that is _Harry Styles_ ’.”

Niall and Liam just look at each other sympathetically.

“Hey,” Niall begins, “that whole living and breathing thing. We could maybe work on that?”

Louis whips his head up and stares at the two boys.

“Oh fuck off, Horan. As much as I appreciate the sentiment, we are not murdering not only the nicest, but the best looking wizard on this planet just because of my never-ending misfortune.” Louis picks up his fork again and continues to eat.

“Fuck Harry Styles anyway,” he spits, food flying everywhere, “He’s not even that great. I hope he and Zayn have a long and wonderful life together, filled with marriage and babies and all that shit.”

Liam and Niall just give each other a knowing glance before the three of them continue to dig in.

 

 

**ϟ**

 

 

After bidding farewell to Niall and Liam for the afternoon, Louis checks his timetable – and oh, would you look at that – his last two classes of the day happen to be ones with the beautiful green-eyed gremlin himself. Great. All he does is roll his eyes, and make his way towards divination.

After walking into class and spotting the only seat left in the entire room, Louis tries not to outwardly groan. The universe obviously hates him, and he’s fairly sure Harry Styles does as well. This, of course, makes having to sit next to him for the next hour uncomfortable as fuck.

He gingerly begins to walk over, smiling at the boy as he sits down.

“Styles.” He mutters, trying to keep eye contact to a bare minimum – he knows that with too much comes the potential for Harry to see just how much he’s gagging for it.

“Tomlinson!” He replies, much too enthusiastically. Which… what.

“How’s life?” he continues.

“Woah, someone’s keen,” Louis replies, side-eyeing him. “And it’s okay… How’s yours?”

“Better now that you’re here, obviously.” The boy replies, winking. “Got any cool plans for Christmas? Like going to Niall’s or anything? Zayn and I are spending the whole break together with our fam, but that’s about all I’m doing.”

Louis visibly recoils, his mind whirring. Way too many things just happened in the last twenty seconds. Instead of making a complete fool out of himself by pressuring Harry into spilling the details on his love life, he just focuses on the question aimed at him. 

“Why the bloody hell would I be going to Niall’s?” He says.

 “Because you’re-” Harry is cut off immediately by a loud _crash_ to his right as Professor Higglebottom slams his books on the large mahogany desk at the front of the room. Harry just glances at Louis with a look that says _I’ll talk to you later_. After the conversation they’ve just had, however, that’s last thing Louis wants. Fuck Harry Styles and his otherworldly boyfriend. Instead, he spends the rest of the lesson ignoring the beautiful boy beside him; springing out of his seat without a goodbye when the end of the lesson eventually comes. He forgot a book for potions; his last lesson of the day, so he focuses on going to get that instead of the sad eyes Harry gives him as he practically flees.

 

 

**ϟ**

 

 

After getting caught up in the halls with a girl from Herbology (who would not shut up), Louis knows that being late to potions is now inevitable. This, of course, is fucking annoying for numerous reasons. Now he won’t get the briefing on what the class is doing today, and he’ll have to catch up to everyone once he’s there, and with today’s luck will probably have to spend the lesson next to Styles again. It’s literally the worst class to be late to – just another thing to add to a fucking awful day.

So of course, when he finally gets there, it’s a similar – yet completely different - story.

 As soon as he walks through the door, three things assault him. One, the fact that yes, everyone has already started brewing whatever they’re making today. Two, that Harry is standing straight in his line of vision towards the middle of the room, stirring a small cauldron (with Niall to his left), and finally, the third thing, is how the room smells. It’s one of the greatest scents Louis’ ever inhaled: somehow reminding him simultaneously of the Quidditch pitch, and a vanilla custard tart. The blue-eyed lad also recognizes notes of different spices - mainly cinnamon. He’s now frozen in the doorway, recognising that the scent smells distinctly like… Harry. After realising this, amusement bubbles up inside him.

 Throwing caution to the wind (with the mindset that, if he can’t have Harry Styles, he might as well continue their daily banter) the shorter boy clears his throat loudly, making his presence known to the entire room.

 “Oi Styles! Brewing your own cologne today eh? How lame is that?” He plasters on a smile, glancing around the room to try and get the rest of them to join him in paying out the curly-haired kid. All he gets however, aside from Niall cackling uncontrollably behind Harry, is silence. He looks toward the noise only to see Harry staring at him with wide eyes; his body stock-still. Niall’s just doubled over behind him, laughter still emanating from that annoyingly large mouth of his and a limp arm pointing to a chalkboard over to Louis’ right. His stomach immediately drops after he reads the one word elegantly written on it in large, capital letters.

 

** _AMORTENTIA_ **

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” He breathes out.

Once he looks back at the rest of the room, which includes Professor Acton, Louis immediately wishes he took those apparition classes his mother suggested to him at the start of the year. They’re all still standing there, mouths open, like there’s a bloody troll behind him or something. He internally cringes after building up the courage to then make eye contact with Harry, who has a similar expression on his face. As soon as their eyes meet, everything just sort of happens at once.

“I can’t believe you, Louis Tomlinson.” Harry chokes out, striding across the room. Before Louis knows what’s happening, the taller boy is taking Louis’ face in his giant hands; connecting their lips like it’s something he’s been waiting to do for years. He breaks away soon after and leans forward, pressing their foreheads together.

“What about Niall?” Harry whispers, green eyes drilling into Louis’ blue ones.

“What about Niall?” Louis parrots, eyebrows furrowing.

“Yeah, what about me?” The two boys hear from behind them in an amused voice.

“Aren’t you guys together?” Harry continues.

“ _What_?” Louis and Niall say simultaneously, amusement clear in their voices. “Are you legit?” Louis persists, “We’ve always been best mates, sure, but Niall’s keen for another lad in our year; and in case you haven’t noticed, I stare at you like the sun shine’s out of your arse.”

Harry just chuckles, his smile taking over his face.

“What about you though?” Louis continues, “Aren’t you hooking up with Zayn Malik or summat? Cause honestly, I have more dignity than to just be your side hoe, Harry Styles.” It’s Harry’s turn to laugh again as he shakes his head.

“Are you kidding?” He says quietly, “Zayn’s my step brother. I know we’re not like, proper related, but we still see each other as blood.” He lets go of Louis then, aiming his next point at the whole room.

“How does no one know this yet?”

Everyone in the room stares back, smiles on their faces - they’re clearly finding what’s going down highly amusing. Relief just floods Louis as he continues to talk.

“Well Jesus Christ, Styles. Get back over here then. I’ve been waiting for this moment for much too long.”

It’s Louis’ turn to close the gap now, brushing his lips against Harry’s with more fervour than last time. The silence is broken then as the whole class cheers and applauds, undertones of Niall’s whooping present in the background.

The two are in the moment; enjoying making up for lost time, when Professor Acton taps his wand against the desk he’s at. The whole class is hushed into a silence as Harry and Louis separate, joining hands now instead.

“Well,” the man says, “What a way to end a Friday. All I’m going to say is that I’m happy for both of you, and that a congratulations is in order for Harry. After that spectacle, I have no doubt in saying that you’ve made the best potion in the entire room.”

Harry and Louis just smile at each other as he continues to ramble.

“Now get back to work, would you? It’s Louis’ turn to see if he can do as good a job as his boyfriend.”

With a final smile, the professor just winks and continues to help the wizard beside him.

As the class resumes normal chatter, Louis drags Harry over to Niall and the potion, wondering to himself how the worst day of his life ended up turning into the best.

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
